Arjuna Mahendran appointed as new Central Bank Governor

Saturday, 24 January 2015 02:42 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Senior economist and financial services expert as well as one time Chairman/Director General of the BOI, Arjuna Mahendran has been formally appointed as the new Governor of the Central Bank. His letter of appointment was handed over yesterday by President Maithripala Sirisena. Mahendran succeeds Nivard Cabraal who resigned followed the defeat of President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 8 January. Arjuna’s recent position was the Chief Investment Officer-Wealth Management division at Emirates NBD. Prior to joining Emirates NBD, Mahendran was the Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist-Asia at HSBC Private Bank.

He has more than 30 years of experience in wealth management, having worked in several financial services organisations across Hong Kong, Singapore and Sri Lanka, including holding senior positions with the Central Bank and Ministry of Finance in Sri Lanka, as well as working on World Bank-funded projects. He also served as the Chairman and Director-General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka from 2001 to 2004. A Singaporean national, Mahendran holds an M.A and B.A (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, from Balliol College, Oxford University, England. He is also a regular commentator on international news networks like CNBC, CNN and BBC, in addition to sharing his market insights with Bloomberg, The Financial Times, Asian Wall Street Journal and Forbes Magazine.